Organizations understand the importance of investing in their employees' growth and development. Effective employee development programs can increase employee engagement and motivation, as well as productivity and performance. By integrating business goals, HR strategy, and L&D strategy, your organization can help you generate the right development programs that meet expectations and achieve success.
Internal Development is a Requirement
A Zippia report found that 59% of employees reported no formal workplace training. According to Better Buys, development is paramount to business growth and expansion opportunities in the workplace, keeping employees engaged and reducing turnover. Organizations need to invest meaningful effort and time into development programs to meet employee expectations and guide them toward career advancement.
There is a significant demand for this kind of learning and development as many no longer view these opportunities as a privilege but rather a right of employment. Employees want a program that provides milestones so they can visualize and feel the accomplishment of advancing their development.
Programs Require Customization Based on Skills
Many employers have a variety of disciplines working in different departments, requiring a unique approach to development programs. It often depends on whether a team focuses on hard skills — which are more technical, like coding, writing or creating content — or soft skills such as communication, time management or teamwork. Some teams might be more self-dependent, requiring opportunities to fine-tune their skills using platforms that provide insights into what they already know. Other teams may require blended learning development opportunities that provide them with a mix of both face-to-face learning and feedback and online learning rather than via a quiz or test.
Organizations often need help determining the variety of skills required for each employee based on their role and expected development track, and what are the most important skills for the individual to master.
Focus on the Learners
Despite a promotion being the main goal for many employees, progress should be measured in terms of new skills acquired, and existing skills being improved. The support L&D teams provide should help employees achieve success by engaging in development that helps them to achieve mastery in their current role, as well as preparing them for the next role they may take on. This involves L&D advisors gaining a deep understanding of each team and what each individual would like to improve on, which can then be used to create a plan for learning in conjunction with the manager that is meaningful and valuable to the employee, including relevance to their role and the support of trainers with content that is interesting, team-oriented and helpful.
Learning Involves Feedback
Professionals in the L&D industry agree that feedback is crucial to the learning process. An employee's ability to ask for feedback involves comfort with their peers and asking for observations on their work in various settings for a multitude of reasons.
Creating a company culture that makes everyone open to feedback starts with leadership. Leaders must guide employees at all levels towards providing each other with constructive, well-intentioned feedback aimed towards the learning and development of all colleagues by giving examples in the workplace. This will result in a culture of feedback and education that promotes retention and growth.
How HR and L&D Work Together
HR and L&D teams must work together to create results that meet desired metrics and set a standard for workplace development. HR strategy is an important element of the business strategy overall, but L&D plans are paramount to its success. Using one another to learn, fine-tune and level up in the workplace is a significant method for business growth and employee engagement.
Becky Wallace is the Head of People at LearnUpon, a global Learning Management Systems (LMS) leader that champions simple, learner-centric experiences and results-focused support. Becky has 15 years of international HR experience in technology companies across Engineering, Finance, Marketing, PR, Customer Service, Communications, and Operations functions. She has extensive expertise in coaching senior leaders up to C-Suite level on how to shape and lead their teams, advising on everything from individual performance issues to global company restructures, and managing all challenging conversations with empathy and results. Becky resides in Dublin, Ireland.
